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on PIX for full size
The writup below is the first portion of an article to describe the
tub rigs used by W3IRZ and AE4GX to accomplish this 2-WAY QRP QSO.
From Mike W3IRZ
**********************
This confirms our QSO today at 9:15 AM today on 3686.4 KHZ CW.
I received
Sam with a 459 + QSB and Sam received me with a 569.
The W3IRZ all homebrew, all tube, station consisted of the NOGA 2 Tube
80 TX
running 2.0 Watts output thru a resistive SWR bridge/TR combo into
a Z match
tuner. A simple microswitch key was used. The antenna
is my only HF
antenna, a 500 loop with open wire feed. The RX used consisted
of a WW2
BC-453 as a variable IF following a 3 tube crystal controlled converter.
At AE4GX Sam was using his variation of the same TX but scaled to one
tube
and 500 mw. He will describe his station in detail.
Mike W3IRZ
From Sam AE4GX
**********************
Well you may recall that I was hoping to to fire up the "newly
build" and
MODed W3IRZ tube rig this weekend. Well it happened.
QSL QSO at 8/19/2000 at 1304-1316utc on 3.686 mhz.
But I'm getting ahead of my story and we all know thats where the real
fun
usually is. I did cannablize my old tube Signal Generator to get the
power
transformer. Perfect size plate voltage about 150V DC and wow a 6.3
(actually about 7V) AC filament winding too.
So I decided to strip out the other PC transformer and go for the bigger
guy. When I wire the coils and attach a dummy load and a key and fire
it up.
I key the rig ....NO signal...but am drawing plate current ....Hummmm?
Experiment with coil and grid leak resistor and change xtals.
Still no
luck. I suspect a bad solder joint or missing wire. I start a solder
joint
by solder joint survey and lo and behold I find one wire from the cathode
to
the wrong end of the RFC. No wonder it doesn't oscillate.
My the change and it springs to life ...a sine wave on the O-scope of
about
10V P-P (0.5Watt about what I was expecting).
Look and the signal on the Spectrum Analyzer and see the 2nd harmonic
about
-16 dB down from fundermental not bad for no treaking.
So I call my old realiable Elmer Mike W3IRZ at 8:30AM Sat and
ask for a
short test with him. We both go setup the rigs and get ready. I notice
my
3.6864 xtal when operating in the rig is actually putting out at about
3.6873 so I let Mike known via phone. He's says don't worry my old
WW2 tube
RX is as wide as a barn.
I give him a call.....W3IRZ W3IRZ de AE4GX KN
He comes
back......Glory!!!!!!!! Tube to Tube.
He's using his 2 watt NOGA Tube Rig (in Altoids) and I'm using my one
tube
in wooden candy box. It doesn't get much better than this.
He gives me 459 w/QSB and QRN and I give him 569. He's on 500
ft BIG lood
and I'm on my 120 ft inverted L wire via an LDG tuner.
We sign and get back on phone to compare notes. Both rigs sounded good.
No
Cuban quality at all. I'm a very happy camper and Mike is too.
So I got some cleanup to do and experiment with the link output winding
a
little but success is sweet.
Mike is experimenting with his new digital camera but I'll give you
a
preview of my rig.
Since I did have a couple of PIX of Mike's rig from the last meeting
I'll
show them too.
Mike's W3IRZ rig
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on PIX for full size
Sam's AE4GX rig
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PIX for full size
Sam's rig and NOGAwatt SWR meter KIT
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Pix for full size